It’s quite lonely be encased in stone, but you wouldn’t know that would you? Because I don’t turn ponies into stone!

Chapter 8: Judge, Jury and Executioner

“How many do you figure can be in that place?”

“It’s a very small prison,” I said, peering into the yard with my rifle. “Even at mass capacity, I can’t see it holding more than thirty, and it’s given over to the Dyno Doomponies now. I only see three in guard towers and another three in the yard. Take away the six that attacked Trottingham and I’d say it’s a max of eighteen inside, assuming no others have left. However, if that other group is any indication, I’d say it’s closer to ten.”

“Alright, I’ll take out the guard tower ponies, count to ten and snipe the ponies out of the prison yard and we’ll meet up at the visitor’s entrance.”

I nodded. John flew off and I picked my first target, tracking him with my rifle.

“One… Two… Three…”

I took a moment to ponder how much I’d changed in so little time… and if I really had changed. I would say that two days ago I would never have agreed to charge a prison of some twenty-odd ponies with only one pegasus for support. But I would’ve also said I would never challenge a team of one hundred or so bots without a weapon and I’d done that too.

“Four… Five… Six…”

Had I really changed at all? Seeking revenge on a group seemed a new trait within myself, but it wasn’t as if I had any sort of reservation about killing these ponies. Maybe the wasteland didn’t change ponies, but it just grinded parts of us down to the rawest form.

“Seven… Eight… Nine…”

I have always believed that at our core, we are nothing more than true animals and it is only years of so-called evolving that we maintain a façade of advancement. Whatever the cause, I was about to commit several accounts of pre-meditated murder. I took in a large breath.

“Ten.”

Pop!

I hit the target dead on and he dropped. I had no time to celebrate my hit. I was already targeting the next ponies, wondering towards my first kill.

Pop! Pop!

Dead.

I released my breath and took in another as I targeted the last pony within the yard. He never had a chance.

Pop!

I reloaded the rifle and switched to my revolver as I charged down the hill at the single guard at the gate. How stupid, never leave a long guard anywhere. He saw me and I saw fear fill his face. It didn’t matter that I was yelling and swinging a revolver around, and that he had a rifle that could’ve easily shot me. I was terrifying to him.

I reached him within seconds and targeted him with S.A.T.S.

Bang! Bang Bang! Bang!

Four clean body shots and the bastard dropped, blood pooling around him. I felt no sorrow for him. I reached the door and John landed next to me, nodding. I paused and quickly took a hit of one of the Dash vials. The ability to think would help in these small spaces. I quickly realized something.

Dash was amazing. It was like moving at half speed. I could easily see and move but I could think and analyze so much faster. I kicked the door open and before it had even finished opening I could see three Dyno Doomponies inside I saw that two of the three were already reaching for weapons and my revolver rang out.

Bang Bang! Bang Bang!

Headshots on the both of them.

I aimed for the last one and saw fear spread through his face. I could tell from the true fear in his face, whatever else he would do, he wasn’t going to harm us. I lowered the pistol and charged out the back door into the yard. Yelling disjointedly at John to check the cell block while I hit the administration building.

I busted the door in with magic while glancing around. It was pitch black so I cast the night vision spell I’d learned my first night in the wasteland. Now, I could actually see and I saw that five Dyno Doomponies were in the main cell directly in front of me, grabbing for their weapons.

Luckily, the Dash was still in full effect so I quickly threw two sticks of dynamite in the cell and retreated out the door.

BA-BOOM!

The door was blown back open as I felt the Dash wear off. I ran back inside and couldn’t help but throw up. It was a disgusting sight of half-mangled ponies and bloody stumps. Blood was everywhere! I knew it would be no help even trying to loot them. What was left of the group was yelling and moaning as blood left the last of their bodies.

What I was not ready for was when two more convicts came down the stairs, guns blazing. I felt their bullets pierce my barding and go into my body. Pain flash through me in a rush and I fell back into the cell of blood and guts I’d just created. They were not at all put off by the blood bath I’d made and ran right in, shooting. I sprayed my revolver wildly, but I was in too much pain to react properly and my vision was quickly starting to darken. I squinted and saw the barrels of their guns, and I reacted quickly, activating S.A.T.S. Praying I wouldn’t miss, I put two shots into either pony’s head.

Bang Bang!

Bang Bang!

To my relief, both of my attackers went down, and I fell against the wall, allowing myself to breathe for a moment. I was about to take a healing potion or three when suddenly I heard a small hissing and my pipbuck sent out an alert. I looked up and saw that one of the fuckers I had shot down had enough life left in him to throw a stick of dynamite, and here I was back stupidly into a wall.

I had no other option, so I booked it was fast as my hooves would carry me up the stairs. Not fast enough to escape injury…

BOOM!

My back legs felt searing agony and gave out, forcing me to the ground. I had definitely just broken bones, and that wasn’t including any damage the bullet wounds were doing. I reached for two healing potions, drinking them ask quickly as I could. The holes in me quickly close up and I could feel my very life slip back into my control.

My legs were still crippled but soon enough John would find me and hopefully be able to help. As it turned out I didn’t have long to wait. He’d heard the dynamite and feared something had happened to me… Well… something had happened.

“Are you ok?!” he asked, checking me.

“Legs are broken I think. I took some healing potions so other than that I’m alright.”

“Don’t move, or I’ll set the bone wrong.”

John pulled out the doctor’s bags I’d seen him grab back in Trottingham. The thought sent a pang of regret through my heart. He pulled out the contents and I saw pieces and materials I couldn’t begin to make heads or tails of. John seemed to know them well enough and set to work fixing me. I won’t lie and saw that it was pleasant. We didn’t have any sort of anesthetic to knock me out, so I was awake as he moved and set my bones properly, and I fought to move an inch.

John also insisted on checking my bullet injuries before I was allowed to move to the mattress.

“Uh-oh,” he said.

“Uh-oh? That’s not a comforting sound coming from my doctor,” I said, longing for another hit of dash.

“One of them didn’t pass through,” he said simply. “The potions mend the muscle and tissue… they aren’t meant to push out foreign substances.”

“So you have to dig it out…”

“Yeah… I have the tools in here… but…”

“It’s going to hurt.”

“Yeah… This isn’t like moving your bones. I’m going to have to cut into the muscle and nerve endings… And actually remove the bullet…”

“Dammit.”

“You’ll have to keep from going into shock… Do you have any sort of memory or something you can take comfort in? It doesn’t have to be all that happy, just calm you down. You’re almost hyperventilating as it is.”

I scanned my brain terminal. Sure enough I had two or three such memories. They were really just casework I’d had back in Stable 221, and as long as I didn’t think of Redbook, I figured I would be ok. I nodded.

“Got them.”

“Ok,” John said, taking several scalpels out of the bag. “Deep breath now.”

I retreated into my memories. Due to my photographic memory, I have perfect recall. I can remember everything in perfect color, texture and smell and feeling. However, the problem of this was that I wasn’t using anything to block out what was currently happening to me. I could feel John’s scalpel as it would dig into my skin.

Honestly, the first part wasn’t so bad. Not nearly as painful as the bullets had been. The next part wasn’t so pleasant. He took his little knife and plunged it deep into my flank. I was desperately trying to keep my focus on the case of Flitterlight, the Unicorn that had apparently traded in his horn for wings one day. Our entire stable had been in an uproar about it and, of course, Myclop had put me on the case. At first, I admit I was stumped and… OW! Fuck this was really starting to hurt.

Against my will I yelled in pain. I could hear John apologizing and working as fast as he could.

The case! I reminded myself. Focus on the case.

First, I confirmed the wings were in fact very attached to the pegasus… ex-unicorn… to the pony at any rate. Despite my best examination, I could find nothing indicating the wings were fake. I’d searched for days through the library for anything that could turn a pony into a pegasus or even an alicorn to no avail. Finally, I’d just hacked the terminal outside their room and checked inside.

Sure enough, I’d found the young unicorn mare inside with her horn still very much intact. As it turned out, there had always been twin ponies, perfectly mirroring the other, save for their wings and horn respectively

It was a bait and switch, simple plan played out by the parents… though I never found out what the purpose might’ve been. That was the case that had alerted me to the fact that there was in fact secrets down in the dark depths of Stable 221. Secrets no one else knew… secrets Myclop would’ve rather kept hidden… if only…

“Done,” said John. “Drink.”

He handed me a healing potion and I gulped it down, thankful for the end of the pain. John threw the twisted bullet onto the ground and carried me (much against my protests) to a mattress where I could finally get some proper rest. I tried to ignore the smell of death all around me as I passed into the world of dreams.

I awoke three hours later, feeling much better than when I’d fallen asleep. I found John, preparing some food outside the building where I’d killed the group of ponies. I checked inside to see that the last two I’d killed were the only two left in relatively good condition.

These two I looted, finding I could repair my armor with pieces of theirs’ and I found several bullets for my rifle, and an administrative key. I went upstairs slowly, revolver at the ready, but I found no opposition. Using the key to unlock the door at the top of the stairs, I peeked inside ready to shoot.

There were several stashes of ammunition and crates of explosives, and a terminal. I got giddy over the piece of stable-tech, until I discovered that it wasn’t protected. Saddened by the knowledge, I peeked at the entries on it. There wasn’t much of interest, just the warden’s journal. He voiced several concerns about the NCE taking his men and about somepony named Cooke controlling the prisoners for an uprising.

“You were right to be worried,” I said to the long dead pony.

I turned off the terminal and searched around the room for anything John and I could use: ammo, healing items and any other vials of Dash or Mint-als. I found that I still wanted to take another hit of the Dash, but was able to resist without much problem. After all, I had no desire to go through another full withdrawal.

I took a stash of bullets off the counter and my pipbuck alerted me that I was technically thieving.

“Wait,” I said aloud. “So if they attack me and I kill them, then I have dibs. But if I kill thieves and murderers, I’d better not touch what they stole?”

The pipbuck remained silent, and I believe that it was as much out of a lack for retort as its inability to speak.

After I had finished looting the room of anything useful, I went back to John, sitting as he was passing out meals to the ponies we’d left alive and finally he gave one to me. I ate it happily. I couldn’t begin to guess at why type of meat was on the plate, but I enjoyed it none the less. It was odd, normally I would say ponies shouldn’t eat meat, but I had no issue with this stuff. I mean, sure it wasn’t any kind of apple or anything, but it was good.

“So,” I said after eating. “What are you guys incarcerated for?”

I went down the line of ponies. I heard nothing unusual in their stories. Some were thieves, some had committed murder, but they’d been smart enough not to join the Dyno Doomponies. Two were rapists, who John and I agreed on killing. We executed them coldly.

I’ve never had patience with rapists, and John apparently shared my hatred of them. The last pony we’d left did have a story.

“Name’s Meyers,” he said.

I laughed.

“So what’d you do,” I asked. “Write a bunch of shitty Vampony books?”

Everyone looked at me in utter confusion. I realized nopony else had the luxury of being able to pick books out of a library like we had.

“I sped up justice,” Meyers said simply.

John and I didn’t feel the need to ask anymore. Meyers was the only pony we felt had been unjustly imprisoned.

“You can come with us to Dodge Junction if you want. I’ll make sure the NCE gives you a pardon. The rest of you will wait for the NCE to send proper guards back here. I trust you’re not stupid enough to leave the only source of water around for miles, but in case you are, know that I have a perfect memory of each and every one of your faces… and if you run away, I will personally hunt you down and think of the most gruesome death I can for you.”

I could tell by looking at them that nopony would dare run.

Notes: Level up!

Perk: Educated – You are an egghead! Due to your mind-numbing studies you gain an extra skill points per level!